Grading Options: Letter Graded and Pass/No Pass

Before the grading option deadline, you can change your grading option on CalCentral in your Academics Tab in the Enrollment Center. For more support on how to make this change (including screen shots), check out the Student Information Systems guide on changing grading options

General Education requirements

This table represents the general policy for grading options required to satisfy general education requirements. 

More information can be found on the Degree Requirements page. 

Major requirements

Typically, major coursework must be taken for a letter grade unless specifically noted otherwise by the major department. For any questions, see the major department.

Policy Modifications in previous semesters

Exceptions to these policies were made for Spring 2020, Fall 2020, Spring 2021, Summer 2021, and Fall 2022. Please note that these modifications were not the same across all impacted terms. See ourPolicy Modifications History by Term page for details.

Passed (P) grades may account for no more than one third of the total units required to reach the 120 overall unit minimum. This includes units completed at UC Berkeley, Fall Program for Freshmen, UCEAP or UCDC, and UCB Extension XB courses.

Passed grades earned in Spring 2020 do not count toward this limit. Passed grades earned in Fall 2020, Spring 2021, and Summer 2021 however, DO count toward this limit. 

Your Academic Progress Report (APR) on CalCentral keeps track of where you are toward this limit and has been adjusted to accommodate the Spring 2020 exception. 

All programs

It is important to note that while P/NP grades do not affect your UC Berkeley GPA, they can have an impact on how graduate or professional schools view your record. Generally speaking, if you are considering pursuing graduate or professional school, you will want to be cautious with you how you use the P/NP grading option and careful about which courses you take for P/NP. All prerequisite courses for a graduate program should be taken for a letter grade. 

medical school, Health Professions Programs, and law school

Due to the highly competitive nature of medical and law programs, any NPs can have an impact on admissions decisions. It is important to note that law schools recalculate NP grades as Fs for their admissions GPAs, even if the course was later repeated. Law schools do not recalculate P grades and will leave them out of their GPA calculations. 

For medical programs and law programs, even patterns of P grades can impact admissions decisions (though PNP-only courses are generally acceptable). 

Sometimes, P/NP can still be a good decision, but there also may be other options you have not considered. To get more guidance about making academic decisions like these through the lens of both L&S policy and pre-professional or graduate programs admissions, see our Pre-Professional Graduate Programs services.

EPN and PNP are codes on CalCentral that indicate you are enrolled in a course for the Pass/No Pass grading option. 

• EPN stands for "Elective Pass/No Pass." EPN indicates that the course can be taken letter graded or pass/no pass, but that you have selected Pass/No Pass. 
• PNP indicates that the course is only offered for P/NP grading and cannot be changed to letter graded. 

These codes are simply to help you know your options with your courses. The transcript will only reflect a P or NP once grades are submitted and will not indicate what grading options were available. 

Changing a grading option to P/NP can be an effective way to protect your GPA against an unwanted grade. But there are a few things (in addition to the information on this page) to keep in mind when determining if it is the best option for you: 

1. Does the course satisfy a requirement that must be letter graded? If you are taking the course for requirements such as Essential Skills or major requirements, you should assess whether you are able to take a different class for a letter grade in order to fulfill the requirement and if that is worth your time. For high demand or capped majors, you will want to understand any consequences of taking a prerequisite requirement for P/NP and if it will impact your eligibility to declare the major (see the Undergraduate Major Adviser for advice). If you are not doing well in a course, it can still make sense to change the grade to P/NP and aim to repeat the NP grade, but again, it is important to have this conversation with your Undergraduate Major Adviser if the course is a mandatory major requirement or part of your intended major's prerequisites. 

2. Is the course mandatory for a major or minor you are considering? Sometimes, a course can inspire you to consider a new major or minor direction. Even if the course is not part of your plan now, you will want to think about whether it could become a major or minor requirement down the road. If it might be, see #1.  

3. Are you considering law school, medical school, a health professions program or graduate school? If so, see the FAQ above. 

4. If you are having a hard time making a decision about your grading option, you might be stuck in the following thought pattern: "If I change my class to P/NP, what if I get a good letter grade? But if I keep it letter graded, what if I get the grade I don't want?" Instead of bouncing back and forth between worst case scenarios, compare them to each other and ask yourself which one is preferable. 
   
   For example, Alicia believes it is possible to get an A- in her course, which would raise her GPA, but is worried she might get a C-, which would lower her GPA. After comparing each worst case scenario and considering that she wishes to apply to internships soon, she realizes that even though she would be disappointed if she earned an A- but receive a P, she would much prefer that to having a C- lower her GPA at this time. Because of this, changing her grading option to P/NP is what she feels most comfortable with.
   
   Your decision is your own and students feel very different about these matters. Choose what is best for you.